For all those who struggled with me in my 2 week conflict against a hive of yellowjackets - I thank you. Now I move onto another problem that I have been living with for about 4 years a irresponsible dog owner.
This ‘owner’ lets her dog out to roam the streets, crap on neighbor’s lawns and tip over our garbage and rip it up. The neigobor will be appoligetic the 1st time you confront her but that does nothing then she gets nasty on subsuquent visits.
I personally was content with just buying a locking garbage lid which seemed to work (and he usually craps on other lawns). But recently the dog got into my garage (right there is reason enough for me to use whatever force is needed to defend my home) and ripped up a garbage bag I didn’t put out because it wouldn’t fit in the can and just didn’t want to put the bag out because of this dog.
The dog ‘owner’ has been ordered to court because of complaints and have ignored them and the f’n judge dismissd the case because she didn’t show. due to more complaints she went in yesterday to court - I don’t know waht happened.
Also I want to point out that animal control is apx 1/2 hr away and when they get a call the dog is in before they arrive. Even so they have captured the dog 2x that I know of.
My wife says that it’s not the dog’s fault and she seems content to keep complaining and hopefully they will eventually be fined. I say enough is enough. I have some thoughts of what can be done but would like your input as well.
BTW a dog in this area off a leash is a stray according to town code (it doesn’t matter if it has tags or not).
Ok no replys but not moved either. I noticed that I really left out the GQ and this might have been moved to IMHO by the time I rechecked it. So my GQ it what are my options that I can get away with legaly.
If the dog is amiable enough, it would seem reasonable to hook the dog up (assuming it has a collar) to a leash in your yard till animal control shows up to cart it away.
Otherwise all you can do is continue to register complaints each time this happens. You should be able to discover the outcome of her visit to court though, wouldn’t that be a matter of public record?
Don’t let the mafia in on this interesting little legal loophole, soon all your neighbors will be named “Vito”, “Bruno”, or even worse…“Kenneth Lay”.
I had a pesky little problem with a neighbor that was getting similar results, no action taken, courts let it slide. I ended up calling my City Councilperson. What I found is: These guys are either so bored stiff, or so desperate for a vote, that he made it his personal mission to resolve the problem.
Now if you were to call the head of your local animal control and say “Hang out in this neighborhood, and grab the pesky little mutt every time you see him” your results would be, well, you’d get no results. If your city councilperson gives the same guy a call, you’ll see the mutt taxi prowling the neighborhood on a regular basis.
He might also give the local prosecutor a talking to. The only payment required by you is an extra bit of stuffing in your mailbox come election time. I even get stuff from his party, a party for which I have never voted, supported, or agreed with.
Sigene I though about that but don’t really want to make the dog suffer - that’s just too cruel.
** cornflakes** don’t think I didn’t consider this one. It seems quite fitting. She lets the dog out to crap on our yards and later she finds her pooch crap all over the house. But 2 things come into play here the 1st is I wonder about the cruelness to the dog - even though it’s much better then putting him up against 200 yellowjackets and there are other animals around here which are well behaved but might be tempted by some leftover beef.
And the dog does seem friendly enough that I can capture him but he suspects something and I can’t get close enough most of the time - if I tempt him w/ food I can get him.
Keeping critters out of your garbage bag is simple and cheap. Just before you tie it up, pour about an ounce of ammonia in the bag. Dogs will eat a lot of horrible things, but they won’t bite into a bag that smells like ammonia. As for the dog poop, well, that’s another problem.
And you should get flamed. Even in the darkest areas of usenet, the philosophy was always to deal with the neighbor, not the dog. It’s just a dog. If you’re going to poison an animal, poison the owner. Hey, maybe you could use saltpeter…
Pestering the officials is a good idea. Depending on the size of the city, a councilperson might help a lot. If they don’t, keep calling animal control or whoever every time you see the animal lose. They’ll get the idea eventually. Your wife sounds like a reasonable person, dave.
Well things came to a head the other day and there was a very tense 6 minutes before the cops arrived - lets just be thankful that everyone is OK - I really don’t want to say anything more then that.
Today I see a uhaul and the neighbor packing their stuff - I hope it’s what it looks like.
I’ll keep you informed.
Now how do I go about stopping these squirles from tearing up my lawn - just kidding
and I quote "A: Squirrels will also dig in people’s lawns and gardens. This is typically brought on due to human behavior. Many people think they are helping squirrels out by feeding them peanuts. What they are not aware of is that they are actually putting the squirrel’s life at risk. Squirrels will take the peanuts to neighboring properties and bury them there. Many people do not understand why this is happening and end up getting upset at the squirrel. "
Ok Latest update…
I though the mom kicked the ‘get a life - over 25 and still lives at home’ kid out with his dog. THat doesn’t seem to be the case as the dog was out today (I hope they were just visiting). I had more then enough w/ this dog and anytime I see it I’m calling the police which I did but the dog was back in by the time the police arrived.
Also I heard they they plead not guilty to the charge and has a court date for august. My wife and I are trying to see if we can be witnesses.
Also I have no prob with the squirles.
I know this is getting away from the GQ of what can be done legally and what should I be doing (should I get a disposable cameria and and take a shot everytime I see the dog out?) but I still want to know that too.
k2dave, I’d keep filing affadavits on the owner of the dog. Eventually, something should give. For comparison, we had a neighbor who couldn’t sleep because of the deejay on the deck of a restaurant. The neighbor finally shut down the deejay by filing thirty-six noise complaints against the restaurant. I doubt that you will have to work that hard.
Do these people rent? If so, you may want to mention this problem to their landlord. I don’t see how a landlord could be liable for a tenant’s dog, but they are probably interested in having tenants who don’t anger the neighbors.
I’d ask whoever will address the compalints first, but you might want to set up a camcorder in your front window to get evidence of the dog being loose and knocking over your trash. wikkit, this is awkward, but… uh… thanks for the flame.
I posted that irresponsible statement while jet-lagged and half asleep and regretted it as soon as I got some sleep and reread it. Since the thread was dropping down the stack at the time, I didn’t want to hijack the thread with a retraction. Since the thread is still alive, let me do it now.
